AS RELIGIOUS STUDIES UNIT 1A: An Introduction to the Study of Christianity
Theme 1: Religious figures and sacred texts (part 1) [R1]
STUDENT NAME: ______| RS/TUTOR GROUP: ______SYLLABUS CONTENT:
Unit 1: Option A – An Introduction to the Study of Christianity
Theme 1: Religious figures and sacred texts (part 1)
AO1: Knowledge and understanding of religion and belief A. Jesus – his birth:
a. Consistency and credibility of the birth narratives (Matthew 1:18-2:23; Luke 1:26-2:40);
b. harmonisation and redaction of the birth narratives;
c. interpretation and application of the birth narratives to the doctrine of the incarnation (substantial presence and the kenotic model).
B. Jesus – his resurrection:
a. The views of Rudolf Bultmann on the relation of the resurrection event to history;
b. The views of Nicholas T. Wright (N.T. Wright) on the relation of the resurrection event to history;
b. interpretation and application of the resurrection event to the understanding of death, the soul, the resurrected body and the afterlife, with reference to Matthew 10:28; John 20-21; 1 Corinthians 15; Philippians 1:21-24.
C. The Bible as a source of wisdom and authority in daily life:
a. The ways in which the Bible is considered authoritative:
i. as a source of moral advice (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14; Luke 6:36-37); ii. as a guide to living (Psalm 119:9-16; Psalm 119:105-112); iii. as teaching on the meaning and purpose of life (Genesis 1:26-28; Ecclesiastes 9:5- 9); iv. as a source of comfort and encouragement (Psalm 46:1-3; Matthew 6:25).
AO2: Issues for analysis and evaluation will be drawn from any aspect of the content above, such as:
a. The extent to which the birth narratives provide insight into the doctrine of the incarnation. b. The relative importance of redaction criticism for understanding the biblical birth narratives. c. The nature of the resurrected body. d. The historical reliability of the resurrection. e. The relative value of the Bible as teaching on the meaning and purpose of life. f. The extent to which the Psalms studied offer a guide to living for Christians.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: Cover Image: Cristo Salvator Mundi (Christ, Saviour of the World), El Greco
Sources for Compilation: Christian Theology: An Introduction [Fifth edition], Alister E. McGrath Collegeville Bible Commentary Did Jesus Really Rise From the Dead?, N.T. Wright Jesus of Nazareth: The Infancy Narratives, Pope Benedict XVI Kerygma & Myth: A Theological Debate, Rudolf Bultmann The Jerome Biblical Commentary Various Internet websites
2 How well do you understand the contents of this page? (circle as appropriate): TABLE OF CONTENTS
Use this page to keep track of what you have covered in lessons, read, studied at home and revised as well as to locate within the booklet specific syllabus content by page number
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Read
Studied Revised
Attended Attended
Syllabus
Reference Content Topic Class Pages Made Notes Notes Notes Num Page
1A1Aa Jesus – his birth: Consistency and credibility of the birth 4 narratives
1A1Ab Jesus – his birth: Harmonisation and redaction of the birth 6 narratives
1A1Ac Jesus – his birth: Interpretation and application of the birth 11 narratives to the doctrine of the incarnation (substantial presence and the kenotic model)
1A1Ba Jesus – his resurrection: The views of Rudolf Bultmann on 18 the relation of the resurrection event to history
1A1Bb Jesus – his resurrection: The views of Nicholas T. Wright 20 (N.T. Wright) on the relation of the resurrection event to history
1A1Bc Jesus – his resurrection: Interpretation and application of 25 the resurrection event to the understanding of death, the soul, the resurrected body and the afterlife, with reference to Matthew 10:28; John 20-21; 1 Corinthians 15; Philippians 1:21-24.
1A1Cai The Bible is considered authoritative: as a source of 36 moral advice
1A1Caii The Bible is considered authoritative: as a guide to living 38
1A1Caiii The Bible is considered authoritative: as teaching on the 41 meaning and purpose of life
1A1Caiv The Bible is considered authoritative: as a source of 44 comfort and encouragement
Glossary Key Terms and Definitions 47
Additional Reading Record Sheets 48
Supportive Online Video Clips 51
3 How well do you understand the contents of this page? (circle as appropriate): A. Jesus – his birth: a. Consistency and credibility of the birth narratives (Matthew 1:18-2:23; Luke 1:26-2:40)
The birth of Jesus is narrated at the beginning of the Gospel of Matthew and the Gospel of Luke, but is not mentioned in Mark, and alluded to very differently in John. The prologues to the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, the infancy narratives, make clear that Jesus was of God and from God from the moment of his conception. Matthew and Luke both begin their account of the good news of Jesus Christ with two quite different stories of Jesus' conception and birth. These nativity stories draw deeply on imagery found in the Old Testament to proclaim that Jesus, Lord and Messiah, was not simply adopted as God's Son at his resurrection, or revealed as God's Son at his baptism in the River Jordan, but was indeed the Son of God from his birth.
How consistent are the birth narratives?
The first two chapters of Matthew and Luke are in agreement that Jesus was conceived in Mary without the intervention of Joseph and that he was of the house of David.
Common Elements in Both Infancy Narratives: • Main characters: Mary, Joseph, Jesus • Supporting characters: Angels, Holy Spirit • Titles attributed to Jesus: Christ, son of David • Heritage: children of Abraham/Israel, house of David • Place names: Nazareth in Galilee, Bethlehem in Judea • Historical period: during the reign of King Herod
Closer Comparison of infancy narratives of Matthew and Luke:
1. Jesus’ birth takes place near the end of the reign of Herod the Great (Matt 2:1; Luke 1:5).
2. The names of the principal characters: Mary, Jesus’ future mother, and Joseph his adopted father.
3. Mary is a virgin engaged to Joseph but they have not begun to live together nor have they consummated their marriage (Matt 1:18; Luke 1:27, 34; 2:5).
4. Joseph is of Davidic descent (Matt 1:16-20; Luke 1:27; 2:4).
5. An angel from heaven announces the birth of Jesus (Matt 1:20-21; Luke 1:28-30).
6. Jesus is recognized as a son of David (Matt 1:1; Luke 1:32).
7. Jesus’ conception will take place miraculously i.e. through the Holy Spirit (Matt 1:18, 20; Luke 1:35).
8. Joseph is not involved in the conception—unlike similar stories in the OT in which it is a barren woman who conceives though through normal means (Matt 1:18-25; Luke 1:34).
9. The name Jesus is given by the angel prior to his birth (Matt 1:21; Luke 1:31). The Greek for this in fact is strikingly similar which greatly increases the likelihood to hold on purely historical critical grounds that this tradition predates both gospels:
(Matt 1:21): And she will give birth to a son and you will call his name Jesus. (Luke 1:31): And you will give birth to a son and you will call his name Jesus.
4 How well do you understand the contents of this page? (circle as appropriate): 10. Jesus is identified as “saviour” by the angel (Matt 1:21; Luke 1:31).
11. Jesus is born after Mary and Joseph begin to live together (Matt 1:24-25; Luke 2:4-7).
12. Jesus is born in Bethlehem (Matt 2:1; Luke 2:4-7).
13. The family has a house in Bethlehem (Matt 2:10; Luke 2:7—which may refer to Joseph’s ancestral home in Bethlehem rather than an “inn” or a stable).
14. The family settles in Nazareth sometime after the birth of Jesus (Matt 2:22-23; Luke 2:39, 51).
How credible are the birth narratives? A close analysis of the infancy narratives shows that there are many significant differences between the Matthean and Lukan accounts, with hardly anything in common between them. There are objections to treating these narratives as literal history which make the narratives difficult to believe for some:
The difficulty in trying to fit into a satisfactory time-scheme both the flight into Egypt (Matt.) and the return to the house at Nazareth (Luke) The improbable features in the story of the travelling star and the journey to Egypt (Matt) The uncertainty about the universal census under Augustus (Luke) There is no secular writing to corroborate the crime of Herod's massacre of the infants No other NT writer reveals any knowledge of the virginal conception. In the face of these difficulties about the historicity of the birth narratives many scholars prefer to see the narratives as Matthew's improvisation on the basis of OT texts, in accordance with accepted rabbinic principles of scriptural interpretation. It is significant that in Matthew the will of God is revealed in dreams, as it was to Joseph the OT patriarch; and just as the patriarch went to Egypt, so did the NT Joseph. Some scholars would recognize that as history these narratives are fragile, but would also hold that there is a core of fact on which the two evangelists have proceeded to proclaim their Christian faith about Jesus as Son of David and Son of God. This they did by showing that Jesus was the fulfilment of OT prophecy; the life, death, and resurrection were foreordained, not fortuitous. The narratives also answer the objections that Jesus was a Galilean and therefore an unlikely Messiah and that the circumstances of his birth were irregular.
Modern theologians who maintain the truth of the virginal conception as literal fact believe it to be congruous with God's action in giving mankind a new beginning; Jesus' miraculous birth constitutes a decisive break with the old order. Other theologians suggest that without the masculine contribution there would be a defect in Jesus' humanity. They are therefore inclined to put the narratives into the genre of midrash (Jewish interpretation of a biblical text), sparked off perhaps by the LXX (Septuagint – a Greek translation of the Hebrew bible) translation of Isa. 7: 14 where the Hebrew ha'almah (‘young woman’) is translated, he parthenos (‘the virgin’). Isaiah was concerned with the troubles of the 8th cent. BCE, not at that moment with a future Messianic age. The prophet declares that within nine months, and the birth of Emmanuel, the king's enemies would no longer be a threat, and soon there would be peace (Isa. 7: 15–16).
DISCUSSION POINTS
1. What are the major problems with the birth narratives of Jesus in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke? 2. To what extent are the birth narratives of Jesus consistent and credible accounts? Explain your answer. 3. Do you think the virgin birth is historically true? Why would both Matthew and Luke include it in their birth narratives? Explain your view.
5 How well do you understand the contents of this page? (circle as appropriate): Christian scholars to this day have been divided on the question of the historicity of these narratives. Many have seen them simply in terms of legends or myths. Because each evangelist has included unique material in their accounts (the Magi in Matthew and the shepherds in Luke) many question whether these accounts are truly historical. An interesting response to this can be found in Klaus Berger’s 2011 commentary on the whole of the New Testament “Kommentar zum Neuen Testament”:
“Even when there is only a single attestation … one must suppose, until the contrary is proven, that the evangelists did not intend to deceive their readers, but rather to inform them concerning historical events … to contest the historicity of this account on mere suspicion exceeds every imaginable competence of historians. (“Kommentar zum Neuen Testament”, Klaus Berger p.20)”
b. Harmonisation and redaction of the birth narratives As we have seen the infancy narratives of Matthew and Luke pose in an acute form the question of the historical value of the Gospels.
The biblical scholar Raymond E. Brown in his book ‘the Birth of the Messiah’ writes: “close analysis of the infancy narratives makes it unlikely that either account is completely historical. Matthew's account contains a number of extraordinary or miraculous public events that, were they factual should have left some traces in Jewish records or elsewhere in the New Testament SCHOLAR NOTE (the king and all Jerusalem upset over the birth of the Messiah in Bethlehem: a star which moved from Jerusalem south to Raymond E. Brown Bethlehem and came to rest over a house; the massacre of all the (1928-1998) male children in Bethlehem). Luke's reference to a general census of the Empire under Augustus which affected Palestine before the was an American Catholic priest, a death of Herod the Great is almost certainly wrong, as is his member of the Sulpician Fathers and a understanding of the Jewish customs of the presentation of the prominent Biblical scholar of his era. child and the purification of the mother in 2:22-24. (p. 36)”
“If all the facts discussed thus far have raised doubts about the historicity of the infancy narratives how are these doubts to be resolved? The theology of inspiration may not be invoked to guarantee historicity. For a divinely inspired story is not necessarily history. Any intelligent attempt to combine an acceptance of Biblical criticism must lead to the recognition that there are in the Bible fiction, parable, and folklore, as well as history. Nor will it do to argue that the infancy narratives must be historical or else they would not have been joined to the main body of Gospel material which had its basis in history. That argument wrongly supposes that history or biography was the dominant optic of the evangelist. and also that the evangelist could tell whether the stories he included had an historical origin. We must rather face a gamut of possibilities . . . both may be historical: one may be historical and the other much freer: or both may represent non-historical dramatizations. (p. 33 34)”
However, Pope Benedict XVI, in his book ‘Jesus of Nazareth’ states: “What Matthew and Luke set out to do, each in his own way, was not to tell “stories” but to write history, real history that had SCHOLAR NOTE actually happened, admittedly interpreted and understood in the Pope Benedict XVI context of the word of God. Hence the aim was not to produce an exhaustive account, but a record of what seemed important for the (1927- ) is pope emeritus of the Catholic nascent faith community in the light of the word. The infancy Church. He was elected pope on 19 narratives are interpreted history, condensed and written April 2005 and resigned from the down in accordance with the interpretation. office on 28 February 2013. (‘Jesus of Nazareth’, Pope Benedict XVI, p.17)”
6 How well do you understand the contents of this page? (circle as appropriate): Redaction Criticism helps us to understand the apparent differences between the two accounts. Redaction criticism concerns the study of the author’s activity in collecting and creating, as well as in arranging, editing, and composing material to suit their theological purpose. Each evangelist is writing for a different audience and will present the story with theological emphases relevant to that audience. When understood in this light the differences in the accounts are seen less as apparent contradictions and more as a complementary harmonisation. The question then becomes less one of ‘Did it happen?’ but rather ‘What does it mean?’
KEY TERMS Redaction criticism concerns itself with examining the way in which the evangelists have used their sources. Redaction critics Look up the meaning of these maintained that the evangelists had been creative in their use of key terms and add your tradition, and that the way in which they compiled the gospels definitions to your vocabulary list reflected important concerns. In studying the final gospel form it is at the back of the booklet: possible to establish the changes made by each evangelist to his source material. It is thought that these changes provide a clue to Redaction Criticism the evangelists’ theological interests and create the distinctive Harmonisation flavour of each gospel. The role of the early church is considered Sitz Im Leben important also since the ‘Sitz im Leben’ [situation in life] of the evangelists’ church is likely to have influenced his interests.
Redaction criticism provides the basis for an understanding of each of the evangelist’s theological interests. The changing of a single word can give an entirely different slant to an episode or saying. The inclusion of distinctive material into the evangelists’ primary sources gives the gospels their individual character, and these differences enhance the theological value of the gospels.
Matthew wrote his Gospel in the late first century AD, perhaps in Antioch of Syria. He was a Jewish Christian writing primarily for other Jewish Christians. He wanted to show that the legacy of biblical Israel was best fulfilled in the community formed around the memory of Jesus of Nazareth. Now that the Jerusalem temple had been destroyed and Roman control over Jews was even tighter, all Jews had to face the question: how is the heritage of Israel as God’s people to be carried on? Matthew’s answer lay in stressing the Jewishness of Jesus. In his Christmas story Matthew wants us to learn who Jesus is (Son of Abraham, Son of David, Son of God) and how he got from Bethlehem to Nazareth. Thus he establishes the Jewish identity of Jesus, while foreshadowing the mystery of the cross and the inclusion of non-Jews in the church. The tone is serious, sombre, and foreboding.
In commenting on the Matthean infancy narratives Pope Benedict XVI says: “How are we to understand all this? Are we dealing with history that actually took place, or is it merely a theological meditation, presented under the guise of stories? … The two chapters of Matthew’s Gospel devoted to the infancy narratives are not a meditation presented under the guise of stories, but the converse: Matthew is recounting real history, theologically thought through and interpreted, and thus he helps us to understand the mystery of Jesus more deeply. (p.118-119)”
Luke wrote his Gospel about the same time as Matthew did (but independently), in the late first century AD. He composed two volumes, one about Jesus’ life and death (Luke’s Gospel), and the other about the spread of Christianity from Jerusalem to Rome (Acts of the Apostles). The dynamic of the two books is captured by words now in Luke 2:32 taken from Isaiah (42:6; 46:13; 49:6): “a light for revelation to the Gentiles [Acts], and for glory to your people Israel [the Gospel].”
7 How well do you understand the contents of this page? (circle as appropriate):
With his infancy narrative, Luke wants to root Jesus in the best of Israelite piety, while hinting at Jesus’ significance for all the peoples of the world. That is why Luke’s genealogy of Jesus (3:23-38) goes back beyond Abraham all the way to Adam. Luke’s infancy narrative has provided the framework for the traditional “Christian story.” Its tone is upbeat, celebratory, and even romantic.
In commenting on the Lucan infancy narratives Pope Benedict XVI says:
“In the infancy narrative overall, … it is easy to recognise the Jewish Christian substratum which is derived from the tradition of Jesus’ family. But it has evidently been reformulated by a redactor who wrote and thought in Greek, and this person may reasonably be identified as the evangelist Luke himself. In this redaction it is clear on the one hand that the writer lacked precise knowledge of Old Testament legislation, and on the other hand that his interest lay not in such details, but rather in the theological kernel of the event, which he wanted to make clear to his readers. (p.81)”
Scholars generally agree that the Matthean and Lucan infancy narratives are independent of each other. Yet similarities between them seem to indicate pre-Gospel traditions that each writer used in his own way. Raymond Brown places the virginal conception within this pre-Gospel tradition. Matthew and Luke therefore, it would seem, did not invent the idea of the virgin birth and it may be rooted in historical fact that was attested to before these gospels were written down.
Different Contents of the Two Accounts:
Luke 1–2 (total of 132 verses, plus 16 more in Matthew 1–2 (only 48 verses, including genealogy) genealogy)
1:1 - Title of the Gospel 1:1-4 - Literary introduction to the Gospel
1:2-17 - The Genealogy of Jesus (from Abraham to (Genealogy included later, in Luke 3:23-38) King David to Exile to Joseph)
1:5-25 - Angel Gabriel announces John the Baptist’s - birth
1:18-24 - An unnamed angel announces Jesus’ 1:26-38 - Angel Gabriel announces Jesus’ birth to birth to Joseph in a dream Mary while awake
1:39-56 - Mary visits Elizabeth (incl. Mary's - “Magnificat”)
1:57-58 - Elizabeth gives birth to her son (John the - Baptist)
1:59-80 - John the Baptist is circumcised & named - (incl. Zechariah's “Benedictus”)
2:1-5 - Joseph & Mary journey to Bethlehem for the - census
1:25 & 2:1a - Mary’s son is born in Bethlehem of 2:6-7 - Mary gives birth to her son in Bethlehem of Judea, and named Jesus Judea
8 How well do you understand the contents of this page? (circle as appropriate): 2:8-14 - Angels appear to some shepherds (incl. the - "Gloria" of the angels)
2:15-20 - Shepherds visit Mary & Joseph & the infant - lying in a manger
- 2:21 - The infant is circumcised & named Jesus
2:22-38 - Jesus is presented to God in the Temple - (incl. Simeon's "Nunc Dimittis")
2:1b-12 - Magi from the East come; they first visit - Herod, then Jesus
2:13-21 - Joseph & Mary flee to Egypt with the child Jesus; - the Innocents are murdered; the Holy Family returns to Israel
2:22-23 - They journey to Nazareth 2:39-40 - The family returns to Nazareth
2:41-52 - At age twelve, Jesus & his parents visit the - Jerusalem Temple
Different Theological Emphases of Each Narrative:
. Matthew 1–2 Luke 1–2 Driving Force: Hebrew Scriptures are fulfilled (1:22-23; Holy Spirit is at work (1:1, 35, 41, 67; 2:25- 2:5-6, 15, 17-18, 23) 27) Jesus' * Son of God, son of Mary by the Holy * Son of David, son of Abraham (1:1-17) Heritage: Spirit (1:26-38) * Legal son of Joseph, but child of the * Heir to David's throne, over the house of Holy Spirit (1:18-25) Judah (1:32-33; 2:4) Names * Jesus (1:31; 2:21) * Messiah (1:1, 16-18; 2:4) & Titles: * Son of the Most High; Son of God (1:32, 35) * Jesus: "For he will save his people from * He will be great, holy, full of wisdom and their sins" (1:21, 25) grace (1:32, 35; 2:40) * Emmanuel: "God with us" (1:23) * "Of his kingdom there will be no end" (1:33) * King of the Jews (2:2) * A Savior is born... who is Messiah * "A ruler who is to shepherd my people and Lord (2:11, 26) Israel" (2:6) * A light for revelation to Gentiles and for * Nazorean (2:23) glory to Israel (2:32) Characters Men: King David, Joseph of Nazareth, Women: Virgin Mary of Nazareth, Elizabeth, Emphasized: Magi from the East, Anna Powerful: King Herod, chief priests & Poor & Aged: Shepherds, Zechariah, Simeon scribes, Ethnarch Archelaus Themes: obstacles, conflict, fear, murder, politics glory, praise, joy; poverty, humility, faith OT Parallels: Dreamer Joseph (Genesis 37–41) Birth of Samson (Judges 13) Baby Moses (Exodus 1–2) Birth of Samuel (1 Sam 1–2) Number 70 weeks from Gabriel's first Annunciation to [King] David = 14 (DVD = 4+6+4); Symbolism: Presentation in Temple? three groups of 14 generations in related to 70-week prophecy by angel Gabriel genealogy; focus on royalty in Daniel 9:24-27? Distinctive The Magi and their three gifts The adoration of the shepherds Images:
9 How well do you understand the contents of this page? (circle as appropriate): Some problems associated with efforts to harmonise the two birth narratives:
The texts have some important, seemingly irreconcilable, differences, which could be due to the different source traditions being used in both accounts(which could legitimately be referred to here). These differences include the time scales, in Matthew, the visit of the Magi is apparently nearly two years after the birth of Jesus (based on Matthew 2:16); Luke has the return to Nazareth little more than 40 days afterwards. Different locations - Matthew assumes the family home is in Bethlehem, that they journey to Egypt, and settle in Nazareth (Matthew 2:1; 2:13-14; 2:23); Luke assumes the family home is in Nazareth, that they journey to Bethlehem for the census, that they visit Jerusalem and then return to Nazareth (Luke 1:26; 2:4-5; 2:39). Focus on different characters - Matthew’s account involves Herod and the Magi; Luke’s has Elizabeth, Zechariah, shepherds, Simeon, and Anna. Different perspectives - Matthew is focused on Joseph; Luke on Mary. Intended audiences – Matthew appears to have been written for a Jewish audience, whereas Luke for a Gentile one. Critical scholarship is largely unconvinced by harmonisations, as they often ignore inconsistencies and involve speculative assumptions about the texts in question. However, even those who do not attempt to harmonise the accounts do not necessarily deny (a) basic similarities between the texts, or (b) that there may have been a historical core.
SUMMARY TASK
1. Draw a Venn Diagram using two overlapping circles to identify and summarise the similarities and differences between Matthew and Luke’s birth narratives.
DISCUSSION POINTS
1. What does redaction criticism contribute to our understanding of the birth narratives in the gospels of Matthew and Luke?
2. Pope Benedict XVI says of the birth narratives: “What Matthew and Luke set out to do, each in his own way, was not to tell “stories” but to write history, real history that had actually happened.” Evaluate this view.
10 How well do you understand the contents of this page? (circle as appropriate): c. Interpretation and application of the birth narratives to the doctrine of the incarnation Doctrine of the Incarnation:
The classical Christian account of the significance of Jesus of Nazareth is framed in terms of the concept of the “incarnation” and the doctrine of the “two natures” of Christ – divine and human. The infancy narratives were influential in the developing Christian belief in the Incarnation. This belief has evolved over the centuries and is well expressed today in Saint Pope John Paul II’s encyclical letter Faith and Reason (1998):
“In the Incarnation of the Son of God we see forged the enduring and definitive synthesis which the human mind of itself could not even have imagined: the Eternal enters time, the Whole lies hidden in the part, God takes on a human face. The truth communicated in Christ’s Revelation is therefore no longer confined to a particular place or culture, but is offered to every man and woman who would welcome it as the word which is the absolutely valid source of meaning for human life.” There was no doubt in the minds of any of the gospel writers, or any of the first Christian witnesses to Jesus of Nazareth, that he was a human being. But they were compelled to draw the conclusion that he was more than that. For example, Jesus offered access to God, both by making God known and making God available. As part of their discipleship of the mind, Christians had to learn to “think of Jesus Christ as of God” (to quote the Second Letter of Clement, a late first-century Christian writing which was greatly valued by the early church). But how was this to be expressed? How could the biblical witness to the identity and impact of Jesus be crystallized into verbal formulas?
By the end of the fourth century, the church had made up its collective mind, and decided that the only acceptable way of describing Jesus of Nazareth was using what has come to be known as the “two natures” formula – namely, that Jesus is “truly divine and truly human.” This is often referred to as the “Chalcedonian definition,” as it was fully set out by the Council of Chalcedon in 451.
The doctrine of the incarnation speaks of God entering into the messy, fallen world that we inhabit. It invites us to think of God opening a window into his being, and a door into his presence, through Jesus Christ.
Over the centuries Christians would diverge in their beliefs about the nature of the incarnation. Two opposing interpretations and applications are considered here: the Substantial Presence and the Kenotic Model.
The substantial presence of God in Christ
The doctrine of the incarnation, especially as developed within the Alexandrian school (the Church of Alexandria reputed to be founded KEY TERMS by St Mark on the Egyptian Mediterranean coast), affirms the presence of the divine nature or substance within Christ. The Look up the meaning of these divine nature assumes human nature in the incarnation. Patristic key terms and add your writers affirmed the reality of the union of divine and human definitions to your vocabulary list at the back of the booklet: substances in the incarnation through designating Mary theotokos – that is, “bearer of God.” Theotokos Kenosis The notion of a substantial presence of God within Christ was of vital importance to the Christian church in its controversy with Gnosticism. A central Gnostic notion was that matter was evil and sinful, so that redemption was a purely spiritual affair. Irenaeus (c.130–c.200) links the idea of a substantial presence of God in Christ with the symbolic affirmation of this in the bread and wine of the Eucharist.
11 How well do you understand the contents of this page? (circle as appropriate): If the flesh is not saved, then the Lord did not redeem us with his blood, the cup of the Eucharist is not a sharing in his blood, and the bread which we break is not a sharing in his body. For the blood cannot exist apart from veins and flesh and the rest of the human substance which the divine Logos truly became, in order to redeem us.
This Christological approach is closely linked with the image of salvation as deification. Simeon the New Theologian (949–1022) stated this with particular clarity, as he reflected on the union of the human soul with God:
But your nature is your essence, and your essence your nature. So uniting with your body, I share in your nature, and I truly take as mine what is yours, uniting with your divinity. […] You have made me a god, a mortal by my nature, a god by your grace, by the power of your Spirit, bringing together as god a unity of opposites.
The idea of a substantial presence of God in Christ became of particular importance within Byzantine theology and formed one of the theological foundations of the practice of portraying God using images – or, to use the more technical term, icons (Greek: eikon, “image”). There had always been resistance to this practice within the eastern church, on account of its emphasis upon the ineffability and transcendence of God. The apophatic tradition in theology sought to preserve the mystery of God by stressing the divine unknowability. The veneration of icons appeared to be totally inconsistent with this, and seemed to many to be dangerously close to paganism. In any case, did not the Old Testament forbid the worship of images?
Germanus, patriarch of Constantinople from 715 to 730, argued vigorously for the use of icons in public worship and private devotion on the basis of the following incarnational argument.
“I represent God, the invisible one, not as invisible, but insofar as God has become visible for us by participation in flesh and blood.”
A similar approach was taken by John of Damascus (c.676–749), who argued that, in worshiping icons, he was not worshiping any created object as such, but the creator God who had chosen to redeem humanity through the material order:
Previously there was absolutely no way in which God, who has neither a body nor a face, could be represented by any image. But now that he has made himself visible in the flesh and has lived with people, I can make an image of what I have seen of God […] and contemplate the glory of the Lord, his face having been unveiled. This position was regarded as untenable by the iconoclastic party (so called because they wanted to break or destroy icons). To portray God in an image was to imply that God could be described or defined – and that was to imply an unthinkable limitation on the part of God.
Aspects of this debate can still be discerned within the Greek and Russian Orthodox churches, where the veneration of icons remains an integral element of spirituality.
12 How well do you understand the contents of this page? (circle as appropriate): Kenotic approaches to Christology
During the early seventeenth century a controversy developed between Lutheran theologians based at the German universities of Giessen and Tübingen. The question at issue can be stated as follows. The gospels contain no reference to Christ making use of all his divine attributes (such as omniscience) during his period on earth. How is this to be explained?
Two options seemed to present themselves to these Lutheran writers as appropriately orthodox solutions: either Christ used his divine powers in secret, or he abstained from using them altogether. The first option, which came to be known as krypsis, was vigorously defended by Tübingen theologians; the second, which came to be known as kenosis, was defended with equal vigour by Giessen theologians.
Yet it must be noted that both parties were in agreement that Christ possessed the central attributes of divinity – such as omnipotence and omnipresence – during the period of the incarnation. The debate was over the question of their use: were they used in secret, or not at all?
A much more radical approach came to be developed during the nineteenth century, which saw a growing appreciation of the humanity of Jesus, especially his religious personality. Thus Alois E. Biedermann stated that
“the religious principle of Christianity is to be more precisely defined as the religious personality of Jesus, that is, that relation between God and humanity which, in the religious self-consciousness of Jesus, has entered into the history of humanity as a new religious fact with the power to inspire faith.” The roots of this idea can be argued to lie in German Pietism, especially in the form this takes in the writings of Nikolaus von Zinzendorf (1700–60), whose “religion of the heart” laid particular emphasis upon an intimate personal relationship between the believer and Christ. It was developed and redirected by F. D. E. Schleiermacher, who regarded himself as a “Herrnhuter” (that is, a follower of Zinzendorf) “of a higher order.” Schleiermacher’s understanding of the manner in which Christ is able to assimilate believers into his fellowship has strong parallels with Zinzendorf’s analysis of the role of religious feelings in the spiritual life, and their grounding in the believer’s fellowship with Christ.
Nevertheless, the importance attached to the human personality of Jesus left a number of theological loose ends. What about the divinity of Christ? Where did this come into things? Was not the emphasis upon Christ’s humanity equivalent to a neglect of his divinity? Such questions and suspicions were voiced within more orthodox circles during the 1840s and early 1850s.
However, during the later 1850s an approach to Christology was mapped out which seemed to have considerable potential in this respect. At one and the same time, it defended the divinity of Christ, yet justified an emphasis upon his humanity. The approach in question is known as kenoticism, and is especially associated with the German Lutheran writer Gottfried Thomasius.
In his Person and Work of Christ (1852–61), Thomasius argues that the incarnation involves kenosis, the deliberate setting aside of all divine attributes, so that, in the state of humiliation, Christ has voluntarily abandoned all privileges of divinity. It SCHOLAR NOTE is therefore entirely proper to stress his humanity, especially the importance of his suffering as a human being. Gottfried Thomasius (1802–75) Thomasius’s approach to Christology was much more radical than that German Lutheran theologian. He was of the early kenoticists. The incarnation involves Christ’s born in Egenhausen and he died in Erlangen. His contribution to kenotic abandoning of the attributes of divinity. They are set to one side christology established him as a major during the entire period from the birth of Christ to his theologian. resurrection.
Basing his ideas on Philippians 2: 6–8, Thomasius argued that in the incarnation, the second person of the Trinity reduced himself totally to the level of humanity. A theological and spiritual emphasis upon the humanity of Christ was thus entirely justified.
13 How well do you understand the contents of this page? (circle as appropriate): This approach to Christology was criticized by Isaak August Dorner (1809–84), on the grounds that it introduced change into God himself. The doctrine of the immutability of God was thus, he argued, compromised by Thomasius’s approach. Interestingly, this insight contains much truth, and can be seen as an anticipation of the twentieth-century debate over the question of the “suffering of God” [this will be explored in the next theme and booklet].
The kenotic approach was also taken up with some enthusiasm in England. In 1891, Charles Gore argued that Christ had emptied himself of the divine attributes, especially omniscience, in the incarnation. This prompted leading traditionalist Darwell Stone (1859–1941) to charge that Gore’s view
“contradicted the practically unanimous teaching of the fathers, and is inconsistent with the immutability of the divine nature.” Once more, such comments point to the close connection between Christology and theology, and indicate the importance of Christological considerations for the development of the doctrine of “a suffering God.”
DISCUSSION POINTS
1. What is meant by the term ‘Theotokos’? 2. Which writers are associated with the Substantial Presence view of the Incarnation and what are their views? 3. Which scholars are associated with the Kenotic model of Incarnation? What problem does this model of incarnation pose? Explain your view. 4. Which model of Incarnation best fits with the birth narratives found in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke? Explain your view.
14 How well do you understand the contents of this page? (circle as appropriate): AO2: Assessment Objective 2: Demonstration of Skills of Analysis and Evaluation
“It is difficult to apply the birth narratives to the doctrine of the Incarnation.” Evaluate this view.
Arguments to suggest it is difficult to apply the birth narratives to the doctrine of the Incarnation:
Even if the Christian doctrine of the incarnation is based on the biblical texts, it is anachronistic to use the term in relation to the birth narratives. Some 250 years separate the dogma of the incarnation as defined at the Council of Nicaea and the writing of the birth narratives in the gospels. Ideas about the Incarnation evolved over two and a half centuries and are not actually ready made within the birth narratives.
Neither Matthew’s gospel nor Luke’s call Jesus of Nazareth ‘God’. Only in John’s gospel is Jesus equated with God and then only twice and John doesn’t have birth narratives. Although Luke uses the term ‘son of God’ (Luke 1:35), this title was used broadly at the time for great (political) leaders without implying divinity. So it is difficult to equate the doctrine of the incarnation with the birth narratives of the gospel.
Both Matthew and Luke emphasise the (lowly) humanity of Jesus – his birth is natural (as opposed to supernatural), he was relatively poor, etc. He didn’t descend from the heavens or appear in spectacular form as you might expect a god to do. Would God be born naturally, in a smelly animal shed and laid in a feeding trough? This does not seem to have the hallmarks of divinity.
Both birth narratives are clear that Jesus is conceived through the power of the Holy Spirit, but neither suggest that Jesus was not also the product of Mary. However, a half-human half-divine Jesus is incompatible with the doctrine of the incarnation, which stresses that Jesus was not a mixture of divine and human, but was fully both.
Arguments to suggest it is possible to apply the birth narratives to the doctrine of the Incarnation:
Matthew 1:23 calls Jesus ‘Immanuel’, meaning ‘God with us’. Even at this early stage, it is arguably clear that readers are to understand Jesus as God in human form.
In both birth narratives, Jesus is conceived through the Holy Spirit. If the Holy Spirit was understood by these authors to be divine, or even an agent of the divine, then they may have thought of Jesus as God.
In Matthew’s account, the wise men express a desire to worship Jesus, and do so (Matthew 2:2; 2:11). This implies that Jesus’ divinity was understood from the outset, even by non-Jews.
The promises made to/about Jesus make good sense if he was believed to be divine: for example, Luke 1:33 says that Jesus’s “kingdom will have no end” and Matthew 1:21 says that “he will save his people from their sins”.
AO2: Issues for analysis and evaluation will be drawn from any aspect of the content above, such as:
a. The extent to which the birth narratives provide insight into the doctrine of the incarnation.
b. The relative importance of redaction criticism for understanding the biblical birth narratives.
15 How well do you understand the contents of this page? (circle as appropriate): B. Jesus – his resurrection
Introduction: The cornerstone of the Christian creed is that Jesus was resurrected from the dead on Easter Sunday, two days after his death on the cross and his burial in the tomb. His followers believed that he had literally conquered death and that he lives forever with his Heavenly Father. According to the Gospels, after the first Easter Sunday Jesus appeared to his followers over a period of forty days and then returned to God. This event is celebrated on Ascension Day. Ten days later, the disciples received the gift of the Holy Spirit, a sharing in the divine life, as promised by Jesus. This gave them the ability and strength to spread the good news of the new relationship between God and humanity, brought about by Jesus’ death and Resurrection.
The Resurrection in Scripture:
The earliest account that we have of the resurrection comes not from the gospels, but from the First Epistle to the Corinthians, in Chapter 15:3-9. It is within the context of the whole of the fifteenth chapter which addresses the issue of the resurrection. This was written around 54 AD, some 24 years after the event. It recounts not just the belief of Paul in the resurrection but the tradition handed down to him. Paul clearly considered Jesus a historical figure--not a legend or a myth. Furthermore, Paul was a man of great integrity who suffered much for his faith. He was not the kind of person simply to believe tall tales. After all, he was a devout Jew (a Pharisee) and a heavy persecutor of the Church. Something profound had to happen to him to get him to change his position, abandon the Jewish faith and tradition, suffer persecutions, whippings, jail, etc. The most likely event that fits the bill is that Jesus died, was buried, rose again from the dead, and appeared to Paul, just as Luke said in Acts 9. The full fifteenth chapter follows later on in the booklet with the resurrection account in verses 3 to 9 reproduced below:
1 Corinthians 15:3-9 3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.
The gospels were written at least twenty years after this epistle. Most scholars believe that the earliest one was the Gospel of Mark. This does not include a resurrection story – the narrative ends with women visiting Jesus’ tomb on the first Easter Sunday. They find that it is empty, but ‘they said nothing to anyone because they were afraid’ (Mark 16:8). The final verses of the gospel are generally agreed to be a later addition.
In the Gospel of Matthew, we find a description of how the women visited the tomb. They were told by an angel that Jesus is risen and that he is going north to Galilee. On their way back to the city to tell the disciples they meet Jesus himself. Later, on a mountain by the Sea of Galilee, Jesus appears to His followers; He commands them to preach the gospel to all nations and He promises that He will always be with them.
16 How well do you understand the contents of this page? (circle as appropriate): In the Gospel of Luke, we find a fuller account of the resurrection. Firstly, the women visit the tomb, find it empty and encounter two angels. Then a stranger walks with two disciples on the road to Emmaus and, at the end of the journey, they recognise that it was Jesus in the way he blessed and broke the bread. We are told that Jesus appears to Simon Peter and then to the eleven remaining disciples. After talking with them, He leads them outside Jerusalem and, after blessing them, He is parted from them and carried up into heaven.
The Acts of the Apostles is the second part of Luke’s Gospel. The first chapter describes how the resurrected Jesus appears to His followers over a period of forty days. Then he is carried up into Heaven.
The Gospel of John, which is written later even than the other gospels toward the end of the first century in Asia Minor, is written in a very different style throughout compared to the Synoptic Gospels (the gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke). He describes how Jesus appears to Mary Magdalene and then to most of the other disciples. Thomas is missing and he is only persuaded that Jesus is alive when Jesus appears to Thomas and the others and speaks to him directly. Thomas puts his hands in His side and sees the holes in His hands and then believes. At that appearance, Jesus prepares his disciples for the coming of the Holy Spirit. The final chapter tells how Jesus appears to His disciples while they are fishing on the Sea of Galilee, is almost certainly a later addition but is still taken as Divinely inspired text by Christians. We especially need to look at the resurrection narratives in John. Chapters 20 and 21 follow later on in the booklet as they require careful study but we will reproduce here below a salient passage on the discovery of the empty tomb:
John 20:1-10: 20 Now on the first day of the week Mary Mag′dalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. 2 So she ran, and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” 3 Peter then came out with the other disciple, and they went toward the tomb. 4 They both ran, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first; 5 and stooping to look in, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in. 6 Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb; he saw the linen cloths lying, 7 and the napkin, which had been on his head, not lying with the linen cloths but rolled up in a place by itself. 8 Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; 9 for as yet they did not know the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. 10 Then the disciples went back to their homes.
17 How well do you understand the contents of this page? (circle as appropriate): The Resurrection must be seen as the key belief of Christianity. As St Paul himself put it in his First Epistle to the Corinthians, ‘If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile’ (1 Cor 15:17). Through his death, Jesus restored the relationship between God and humanity. Through his Resurrection, he has demonstrated that death is not the end. Human beings were created to enjoy an everlasting relationship with god and Jesus’ Resurrection shows that this is possible. All those who share in his Spirit are, in effect, sharing even now in this new, glorious, resurrected life. However, Christians can also look forward to the future with complete confidence.
Some Christians also consider the Resurrection to be evidence that Jesus was the Son of God, an indication of God’s acceptance of Jesus’ death for humanity’s sin and a symbol of the victory of good over evil.
We will examine some implications of the resurrection event in terms of how it is interpreted and applied to the understanding of death, the soul, the resurrected body and the afterlife a little later on. First we will examine how the resurrection event has been interpreted differently by different Christian scripture scholars.
The Historicity of the Resurrection Narratives:
Just as we saw that there were disagreements about the historical truth of the narratives concerning the birth of Jesus in the gospels so there are also disagreements about the historical truth of the resurrection narratives. As we have outlined above there are noticeable differences in the various Gospel accounts and, in any event, the idea of a physical rising from the dead contradicts the certainties of modern science. As with the Christmas story, some Christians prefer to understand the story as symbolic - a story that contains an essential spiritual truth - rather than as literal history.
Here we will consider two opposing views regarding the historicity of the resurrection event: the first is by the famous German Lutheran Biblical scholar Rudolf Bultmann (d. 1976) who believed the resurrection story was a myth and a more recent biblical scholar, N.T. Wright (b. 1948 - ), a retired Anglican bishop, who believes strongly in the historical reality of the bodily resurrection of Jesus.
a. The views of Rudolf Bultmann on the relation of the resurrection event to history;
The question of the relation of faith and history often comes to focus on the question of the resurrection of Christ. This question – more specifically, whether Christ was indeed raised from the dead, and, if so, what that event might mean – brings together the central components of the Enlightenment critique of traditional Christianity. The characteristic Enlightenment emphasis on the omnicompetence of reason and the importance of contemporary analogs to past events led to the development of an intensely sceptical attitude toward the resurrection in the eighteenth century. In his Life of Jesus (1835), David Friedrich Strauss (1808–74) provided a radical new approach to the question of the resurrection of Christ. Strauss was concerned to explain how Christians came to believe in the resurrection, when there was no objective historical basis for this belief. Having excluded the resurrection as a “miraculous objective occurrence,” Strauss located the origin of the belief at the purely subjective level.
Belief in the resurrection is not to be explained as a response to “a life objectively restored,” but is “a subjective conception in the mind”: faith in the resurrection of Jesus is the outcome of an exaggerated “recollection of the personality of Jesus himself” by which a memory has been projected into the idea of a living presence. A dead Jesus is thus transfigured into an imaginary risen Christ – a mythical risen Christ, to use the appropriate term.
18 How well do you understand the contents of this page? (circle as appropriate): Strauss’s distinctive contribution to the debate was to introduce the category of “myth” – a reflection of the gospel writers’ social conditioning and cultural outlook. To suggest that their writings were partly “mythical” was thus not so much a challenge to their integrity, but simply an acknowledgment of the premodern outlook of the period in which they were written. The resurrection was to be viewed not as a deliberate fabrication, but as an interpretation of events (especially the memory and “subjective vision” of Jesus) in terms which made sense in the culture of first century Palestine, dominated by a mythical worldview. Belief in the resurrection as an objective event must be regarded as becoming impossible with the passing of that worldview.
Rudolf Bultmann shared Strauss’s basic conviction that, in this scientific age, it is impossible to believe in miracles. As a result, belief in an objective resurrection of Jesus is no longer possible; however, it may well prove to be possible to make sense of it in another manner. History, Bultmann argued, is “a closed continuum of effects in which individual events are connected by the succession of cause and effect.” The resurrection, in common with other miracles, would thus disrupt the closed system of nature. Similar points had been made by other thinkers sympathetic to the Enlightenment.
Belief in an objective resurrection of Jesus, although perfectly SCHOLAR NOTE legitimate and intelligible in the first century, cannot be taken seriously today. Rudolf Bultmann (1884–1976) “It is impossible to use electric light and radio equipment and, Rudolf Karl Bultmann was a German when ill, to claim the assistance of modern medical and clinical Lutheran theologian and professor of discoveries, and at the same time believe in the New Testament world New Testament at the University of Marburg. He was one of the major of spirits and miracles.” figures of early 20th century biblical studies and a prominent voice in liberal Christianity. The human understanding of the world and of human existence has changed radically since the first century, with the result that modern humanity finds the mythological worldview of the New Testament unintelligible and unacceptable. A worldview is given to someone with the age in which they live, and they are in no position to alter it. The modern scientific and existential worldview means that that of the New Testament is now discarded and unintelligible.
For this reason, the resurrection is to be regarded as “a mythical event, pure and simple.”
The resurrection is something which happened in the subjective experience of the disciples, not something which took place in the public arena of history. For Bultmann, Jesus has indeed been raised – he has been raised up into the kerygma. The preaching of Jesus himself has been transformed into the Christian proclamation of Christ. Jesus has become an element of Christian preaching; he has been raised up and taken up into the proclamation of the gospel: The real Easter faith is faith in the word of preaching which brings illumination. If the event of Easter Day is in any sense an historical event additional to the event of the cross, it is nothing else than the rise of faith in the risen Lord, since it was this faith which led to the apostolic preaching. The resurrection itself is not an event of past history. All that historical criticism can establish is that the first disciples came to believe in the resurrection. Consistent with his antihistorical approach in general, Bultmann directs attention away from the historical Jesus toward the proclamation of Christ. “Faith in the church as the bearer of the kerygma is the Easter faith which consists in the belief that Jesus Christ is present in the kerygma.”
19 How well do you understand the contents of this page? (circle as appropriate): b. The views of Nicholas T. Wright (N.T. Wright) on the relation of the resurrection event to history;
N.T. Wright, in contrast to Bultmann, basically argues that the resurrection cannot have been a myth invented by the early Christian SCHOLAR NOTE community, because the idea of the Messiah dying and being bodily N. T. Wright resurrected to eternal life was completely unexpected in Jewish (1948 – ) theology, and therefore would not have been fabricated. Nicholas Thomas Wright is a leading British New Testament scholar and In Judaism, when people die, they stay dead. At the most, they might retired Anglican bishop. In academia, he is published as N. T. Wright, but re-appear as apparitions, or be resuscitated to life for a while, but then otherwise tends to be known as Tom die again later. There was no concept of the bodily resurrection to Wright. eternal life of a single person, especially of the Messiah, prior to the general resurrection of all the righteous dead on judgment day.
Wright’s case for the resurrection has 3 parts:
• The Jewish theological beliefs of the early Christian community underwent 7 mutations that are inexplicable apart from the bodily resurrection of Jesus
• The empty tomb
• The post-mortem appearances of Jesus to individuals and groups, friends and foes
Here’s the outline of Wright’s case:
“…the foundation of my argument for what happened at Easter is the reflection that this Jewish hope has undergone remarkable modifications or mutations within early Christianity, which can be plotted consistently right across the first two centuries. And these mutations are so striking, in an area of human experience where societies tend to be very conservative, that they force the historian… to ask, Why did they occur?”
“The mutations occur within a strictly Jewish context. The early Christians held firmly, like most of their Jewish contemporaries, to a two-step belief about the future: first, death and whatever lies immediately beyond; second, a new bodily existence in a newly remade world. ‘Resurrection’ is not a fancy word for ‘life after death’; it denotes life after ‘life after death’.”
And here are the 7 mutations:
1. Christian theology of the afterlife mutates from multiples views (Judaism) to a single view: resurrection (Christianity). When you die, your soul goes off to wait in Sheol. On judgment day, the righteous dead get new resurrection bodies, identical to Jesus’ resurrection body.
2. The relative importance of the doctrine of resurrection changes from being peripheral (Judaism) to central (Christianity).
3. The idea of what the resurrection would be like goes from multiple views (Judaism) to a single view: an incorruptible, spiritually-oriented body composed of the material of the previous corruptible body (Christianity).
20 How well do you understand the contents of this page? (circle as appropriate): 4. The timing of the resurrection changes from judgment day (Judaism) to a split between the resurrection of the Messiah right now and the resurrection of the rest of the righteous on judgment day (Christianity).
5. There is a new view of eschatology as collaboration with God to transform the world.
6. There is a new metaphorical concept of resurrection, referred to as being “born-again”.
7. There is a new association of the concept of resurrection to the Messiah. (The Messiah was not even supposed to die, and he certainly wasn’t supposed to rise again from the dead in a resurrected body!)
There are also other historical puzzles that are solved by postulating a bodily resurrection of Jesus.
1. Jewish people thought that the Messiah was not supposed to die. Although there were lots of (warrior) Messiahs running around at the time, whenever they got killed, their followers would abandon them. Why didn’t Jesus’ followers abandon him when he died?
2. If the early Christian church wanted to communicate that Jesus was special, despite his shameful death on the cross, they would have made up a story using the existing Jewish concept of exaltation. Applying the concept of bodily resurrection to a dead Messiah would be a radical departure from Jewish theology, when an invented exaltation was already available to do the job. 3. The early church became extremely reckless about sickness and death, taking care of people with communicable diseases and testifying about their faith in the face of torture and execution. Why did they scorn sickness and death?
4. The gospels, especially Mark, do not contain any embellishments and “theology historicized”. If they were made-up, there would have been events that had some connection to theological concepts. But the narratives are instead bare-bones: “Guy dies public death. People encounter same guy alive later.”
5. The story of the women who were the first witnesses to the empty tomb cannot have been invented, because the testimony of women was inadmissible under almost all circumstances at that time. If the story were invented, they would have invented male discoverers of the tomb. Female discovers would have hampered conversion efforts.
6. There are almost no legendary embellishments in the gospels, while there are plenty in the later gnostic forgeries. No crowds of singing angels, no talking crosses, and no booming voices from the clouds.
7. There is no mention of the future hope of the general resurrection, which I guess they thought was imminent anyway.
To conclude, Wright makes the argument that the best explanation of all of these changes in theology and practice is that God raised Jesus (bodily) from the dead. There is simply no way that this community would have made up the single resurrection of the Messiah – who wasn’t even supposed to die – and then put themselves on the line for that belief. We finish with his own words:
21 How well do you understand the contents of this page? (circle as appropriate): “Historical investigation, I propose, brings us to the point where we must say that the tomb previously housing a thoroughly dead Jesus was empty, and that his followers saw and met someone they were convinced was this same Jesus, bodily alive though in a new, transformed fashion. The empty tomb on the one hand and the convincing appearances of Jesus on the other are the two conclusions the historian must draw. I do not think that history can force us to draw any particular further deductions beyond these two phenomena; the conclusion the disciples drew is there for the taking, but it is open to us, as it was to them, to remain cautious. Thomas waited a week before believing what he had been told. On Matthew’s mountain, some had their doubts.
However, the elegance and simplicity of explaining the two outstanding phenomena, the empty tomb and the visions, by means of one another, ought to be obvious. Were it not for the astounding, and world-view-challenging, claim that is thereby made, I think everyone would long since have concluded that this was the correct historical result. If some other account explained the rise of Christianity as naturally, completely and satisfyingly as does the early Christians’ belief, while leaving normal worldviews intact, it would be accepted without demur.
That, I believe, is the result of the investigation I have conducted. There are many other things to say about Jesus’ resurrection. But, as far as I am concerned, the historian may and must say that all other explanations for why Christianity arose, and why it took the shape it did, are far less convincing as historical explanations than the one the early Christians themselves offer: that Jesus really did rise from the dead on Easter morning, leaving an empty tomb behind him. The origins of Christianity, the reason why this new movement came into being and took the unexpected form it did, and particularly the strange mutations it produced within the Jewish hope for resurrection and the Jewish hope for a Messiah, are best explained by saying that something happened, two or three days after Jesus’ death, for which the accounts in the four gospels are the least inadequate expression we have.”
DISCUSSION POINTS
1. State briefly the issue of historicity regarding the resurrection narratives? 2. Explain the viewpoint of Rudolf Bultmann regarding the nature of the resurrection with a supporting quotation. 3. Explain the viewpoint of N.T. Wright regarding the nature of the resurrection with a supporting quotation. 4. “A Christian today who believes in the bodily resurrection of Jesus as an historical fact is naïve and misguided.” Evaluate this view.
22 How well do you understand the contents of this page? (circle as appropriate):
23 How well do you understand the contents of this page? (circle as appropriate):
24 How well do you understand the contents of this page? (circle as appropriate): c. Interpretation and application of the resurrection event to the understanding of death, the soul, the resurrected body and the afterlife, with reference to Matthew 10:28; John 20-21; 1 Corinthians 15; Philippians 1:21-24.
Over the centuries philosophers and theologians have interpreted and applied key biblical texts relating to the resurrection event to develop an understanding of death, the soul, the resurrected body and the afterlife. Here we will look at those texts and reflect on their interpretation and application.
Matthew 10:28
28 And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.
Commentary: Here we have a teaching of Jesus in the context of his Missionary Discourse which is one of his several discourses in Matthew’s Gospel. He is addressing his disciples directly and warning them of the reality of impending persecution for those who would follow him. The dualism of somā (body) and psychē (soul) is unusual in the New Testament and does not represent the Old Testament conception of the human person. Jesus seems to be warning that there is life after this earthly life that must be preserved.
John 20-21
The Resurrection of Jesus 20 Now on the first day of the week Mary Mag′dalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. 2 So she ran, and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” 3 Peter then came out with the other disciple, and they went toward the tomb. 4 They both ran, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first; 5 and stooping to look in, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in. 6 Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb; he saw the linen cloths lying, 7 and the napkin, which had been on his head, not lying with the linen cloths but rolled up in a place by itself. 8 Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; 9 for as yet they did not know the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. 10 Then the disciples went back to their homes.
Commentary: What is clear in this text is what is missing: Jesus’ body. We don’t have a dramatic account of the glorious rising from the dead by Jesus but rather the discovery of an empty tomb by the women. The initial conclusion drawn is that the body of Jesus has been removed from the tomb by an anonymous ‘they’. This would seem to suggest that the resurrection is a physical event. The phrase in verse 8, ‘he saw and believed’, refers to the beloved disciple seeing the burial cloths as Peter had already done. This description may be meant to convey the idea that the cloths had preserved the contours of the body that had been bound by them, thus offering visual reference of a resurrection. Many Christians today associate the Shroud of Turin and the Sudarium of Oviedo with the burial cloths of Jesus discovered by Peter and John in the empty tomb. The latest forensic research shows that both cloths “almost certainly covered the cadaver of the same person”.
25 How well do you understand the contents of this page? (circle as appropriate):
Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene 11 But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb; 12 and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. 13 They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” 14 Saying this, she turned round and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus. 15 Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom do you seek?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” 16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rab-bo′ni!” (which means Teacher). 17 Jesus said to her, “Do not hold me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brethren and say to them, I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” 18 Mary Mag′dalene went and said to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”; and she told them that he had said these things to her.
Commentary: What is significant in this section is verse 14: Mary did not recognise Jesus. His risen form seems unrecognisable. This is a characteristic of some of the resurrection appearances (The Road to Emmaus in Luke 24). Jesus, it seems, is the same but different. Mary only recognises him when he addresses her by name. This raises questions about the nature of the resurrection of the body.
Jesus Appears to the Disciples 19 On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” 20 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. 21 Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you.” 22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”
Commentary: This section corresponds to Paul’s attestation in 1 Corinthians 15:5. What appears extraordinary here is that the risen Jesus can enter a room where the doors are locked. In verse 19 John does not explain but simply notes as a fact the spiritual qualities of the resurrected body of Christ. This also accords with 1 Corinthians 15:44. Verse 20 then proceeds to demonstrate that even though the resurrected body of Christ possesses spiritual qualities, the essence of the resurrection testimony of the New Testament is to the return of the very Jesus of Nazareth whom the first witnesses had known familiarly. Details such as this, coupled with the emphasis on the empty tomb, testify to the continued existence of the historical Jesus. This suggests that resurrection involves the continuity of the body and the person beyond death.
Jesus and Thomas 24 Now Thomas, one of the twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see in his hands the print of the nails, and place my finger in the mark of the nails, and place my hand in his side, I will not believe.”
26 Eight days later, his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. The doors were shut, but Jesus came and stood among them, and said, “Peace be with you.” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side; do not be faithless, but believing.” 28 Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” 29 Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.”
26 How well do you understand the contents of this page? (circle as appropriate): Commentary: This section seems to suggest that the resurrected body is something that can be both seen and touched implying that it is a very real phenomenon which can be experienced with the senses, not just in the mind. Thomas’s response to seeing Jesus is to declare: “My Lord and may God!” There are only two places in the four gospels where Jesus is explicitly identified as God, here, in Thomas’s profession of faith, and in the prologue when John attests that the Word was God and that the Word became flesh. This seems to suggest that the Resurrection is proof that Jesus is God. These appearances in the Upper Room also occur on Sundays suggesting that the early church may have come together as a community regularly on Sundays to celebrate and encounter the Risen Lord in their celebrations of the Eucharist.
The Purpose of This Book 30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name.
Jesus Appears to Seven Disciples 21 After this Jesus revealed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tibe′ri-as; and he revealed himself in this way. 2 Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathan′a-el of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zeb′edee, and two others of his disciples were together. 3 Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They said to him, “We will go with you.” They went out and got into the boat; but that night they caught nothing.
4 Just as day was breaking, Jesus stood on the beach; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. 5 Jesus said to them, “Children, have you any fish?” They answered him, “No.” 6 He said to them, “Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in, for the quantity of fish. 7 That disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his clothes, for he was stripped for work, and sprang into the sea. 8 But the other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, but about a hundred yards off.
9 When they got out on land, they saw a charcoal fire there, with fish lying on it, and bread. 10 Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.” 11 So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, a hundred and fifty-three of them; and although there were so many, the net was not torn. 12 Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” Now none of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord. 13 Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and so with the fish. 14 This was now the third time that Jesus was revealed to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.
Commentary: Again this section corresponds to Paul’s attestation in 1 Corinthians 15:5. Verse 12 is very revealing restating the idea that perhaps Jesus wasn’t clearly recognisable visually suggested by the phrase “none of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord.” It is also significant that it is John who in verse 7 recognises that it is in fact Jesus. The description of the meal of bread and fish and the way Jesus takes the bread and gives it to them is evocative of the Eucharist. This would seem to be yet another association here of encountering the Risen Lord through the early church’s celebration of the Eucharist.
Jesus and Peter 15 When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.” 16 A second time he said to him, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.” 17 He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” And he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep. 18 Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you girded yourself and walked where you would; but when
27 How well do you understand the contents of this page? (circle as appropriate): you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish to go.” 19 (This he said to show by what death he was to glorify God.) And after this he said to him, “Follow me.”
Commentary: Again this section corresponds to Paul’s attestation in 1 Corinthians 15:5 and clearly demonstrates the primacy of Peter in the early church. This is also reflected in the earlier section in Chapter 20:1-9. The key motif in this section is the centrality of love in the relationship between the disciple and the Risen Lord. It is this love which enables the disciple to face death. Peter is being called by the Risen Lord to be a Good Shepherd and to lay down his life for his sheep (John 10:18-19). Peter, it is prophesied, will be a martyr whose death would glorify God. When this chapter was written, Peter’s death was already an accomplished fact. Like his Lord, he had already stretched out his hands (verse 18) to die on Vatican hill. The words of Jesus ‘Follow me’ clearly link Peter’s death to the death of Jesus.
Jesus and the Beloved Disciple 20 Peter turned and saw following them the disciple whom Jesus loved, who had lain close to his breast at the supper and had said, “Lord, who is it that is going to betray you?” 21 When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, “Lord, what about this man?” 22 Jesus said to him, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? Follow me!” 23 The saying spread abroad among the brethren that this disciple was not to die; yet Jesus did not say to him that he was not to die, but, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you?”
24 This is the disciple who is bearing witness to these things, and who has written these things; and we know that his testimony is true.
25 But there are also many other things which Jesus did; were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.
Commentary: This concluding section of John’s Gospel where Peter directs the question about death to that of the beloved disciple when he sees him them. Jesus’ reply seems to suggest there may have been a belief among some that John would not die until Jesus’s second coming, the Parousia. This may have led many in the early church to believe that Jesus’ arrival was imminent and would occur before the end of the apostolic age. The most obvious sense of these verses is that the beloved disciple, the last of the apostolic age, had recently died, and this narrative had been included to explain that there had never been any promise to the effect that he would survive.
1 Corinthians 15
The Resurrection of Christ 15 Now I would remind you, brethren, in what terms I preached to you the gospel, which you received, in which you stand, 2 by which you are saved, if you hold it fast—unless you believed in vain.
3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. 9 For I am the least of the apostles, unfit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God which is with me. 11 Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.
28 How well do you understand the contents of this page? (circle as appropriate):
Commentary: In this section Paul presents a fundamental creed that was passed onto him: that Christ died, he was buried, he was raised, and he appeared. Christ’s burial emphasises the reality of his dying. In Jewish thought, burial is the final stage of death. The three days in the tomb signify the reality of that death and burial. Paul says that Christ was raised by God. Then Christ appeared to many leaders of the church. They had no hallucinations. The Christians expressed their own consciousness that what happened was something objective, namely, Christ appeared, rather than merely “was seen.” Paul’s own vision concludes the list.
The Resurrection of the Dead 12 Now if Christ is preached as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised;14 if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. 15 We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified of God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised. 17 If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19 If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all men most to be pitied.
20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. 23 But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. 24 Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. 25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death. 27 “For God has put all things in subjection under his feet.” But when it says, “All things are put in subjection under him,” it is plain that he is excepted who put all things under him. 28 When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things under him, that God may be everything to everyone.
29 Otherwise, what do people mean by being baptized on behalf of the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized on their behalf? 30 Why am I in peril every hour? 31 I protest, brethren, by my pride in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die every day! 32 What do I gain if, humanly speaking, I fought with beasts at Ephesus? If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” 33 Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.” 34 Come to your right mind, and sin no more. For some have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame.
Commentary: In this section Paul is clearly addressing a prevalent view among the Corinthians that there is no resurrection of the dead. Paul dismisses this hypothesis as false and says that Christ represents the promise that all others will become as he is. Christ’s resurrection, which saves all from the reign of death, brings life to all. By his resurrection Christ became Lord. Paul continues with an example from his own life. Continually he puts himself in danger, facing death. What wisdom could explain his being so willing to face the ‘beasts at Ephesus’, a probable reference to the strong hostility he encountered there. Verse 32b summarises the selfish, unethical, purposeless existence of those without hope, a materialist view of life for those who have not faith or hope in an afterlife. Paul has already implied that some Corinthians have already fallen prey to such a philosophy.
29 How well do you understand the contents of this page? (circle as appropriate):
The Resurrection Body 35 But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?” 36 You foolish man! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. 37 And what you sow is not the body which is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. 38 But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body. 39 For not all flesh is alike, but there is one kind for men, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish. 40 There are celestial bodies and there are terrestrial bodies; but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. 41 There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory.
42 So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable. 43 It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. 44 It is sown a physical body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual body. 45 Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. 46 But it is not the spiritual which is first but the physical, and then the spiritual. 47 The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. 48 As was the man of dust, so are those who are of the dust; and as is the man of heaven, so are those who are of heaven. 49 Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven. 50 I tell you this, brethren: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.
Commentary: The model of the “spiritual body” is the risen body of Christ, “the heavenly man.” From the first Adam mankind inherited a mortal and corruptible body; from the heavenly man, the glorified Christ, the baptized inherit his life and glory. Even now they share in the life of the Risen Lord. The corruptible body of man must be transformed in order to participate in “the kingdom of God,” i.e., in the life of glory.
The Resurrection as a Mystery of Faith 51 Lo! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. 53 For this perishable nature must put on the imperishable, and this mortal nature must put on immortality. 54 When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:
“Death is swallowed up in victory.” 55 “O death, where is thy victory? O death, where is thy sting?” 56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labour is not in vain.
Commentary: Here Paul announces a mystery, a truth of God’s revelation. The faithful living at the parousia will not die but they will be transformed. The dead will rise, and the bodies of those still living at the Lord’s coming will be transformed instantly into glorified, incorruptible, “spiritual” bodies. Paul then includes a hymnic passage to conclude his discussion. When the bodies of the elect become incorruptible and immortal, the last enemy, death, will have been vanquished and Scripture fulfilled. Sin has been vanquished by Christ the Redeemer. Thus death, like a serpent deprived of its venomous sting, can no longer harm those who are in Christ.
30 How well do you understand the contents of this page? (circle as appropriate): Philippians 1:21-24
21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. 22 If it is to be life in the flesh, that means fruitful labour for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. 23 I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. 24 But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account.
Commentary: Paul writes this letter while being imprisoned and realising that he might be facing death could not help but reflect on what this would mean. First, the spread of Christianity would have to go on without him; then, he would not live to see the Day of the Lord. He ponders all of this – the alternatives of living and dying. In these verses Paul does not say what his preference is since the choice is so difficult: he has a longing to depart from life and to be with Christ, for that is a much better situation; yet other considerations are in order. For the sake of the Philippians, it is more necessary at this time for Paul to continue in the flesh. Confident in this greater necessity, he knows that he will remain and go on living with all of the Philippians so that they might progress and have joy in their faith.
AO2: Issues for analysis and evaluation will be drawn from any aspect of the content above, such as:
The nature of the resurrected body. The historical reliability of the resurrection.
31 How well do you understand the contents of this page? (circle as appropriate):
32 How well do you understand the contents of this page? (circle as appropriate):
33 How well do you understand the contents of this page? (circle as appropriate): C. The Bible as a source of wisdom and authority in daily life
The English word Bible is from the Latin biblia, from the same word in Medieval Latin and Late Latin and ultimately from Koine Greek τὰ βιβλία [ta biblia] "the books". Christians often refer to the Bible as ‘God’s Word’ and therefore see it as the most important book ever written.
The Bible is a collection of 66/73* books written by about 40 authors, in three different languages, on three different continents, over approximately 1,600 years.
The Bible claims to be inspired and inerrant. This means that the Bible claims to be from God and that it is without error in everything it addresses. Christians believe the Bible is the account of God's action in the world, and his purpose with all creation.
The writing of the Bible took place over sixteen centuries and is the work of over forty human authors. [*The Catholic Bible is different from the Protestant Bible in only one way: Catholic Bibles contain 46 Old Testament books while Protestant Bibles include 39. The Old Testament books found in Catholic Bibles, but omitted from the Old Testament in Protestant Bibles, are the Books of Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Sirach (or Ecclesiasticus), First and Second Maccabees, Baruch, and parts of Daniel and Esther. Catholics call these books deuterocanonical works; Protestants call them the Apocrypha. In about 367 AD, St. Athanasius came up with a list of 73 books for the Bible that he believed to be divinely inspired. This list was finally approved by Pope Damasus I in 382 AD, and was formally approved by the Church Council of Rome in that same year. Later Councils at Hippo (393 AD) and Carthage (397 AD) ratified this list of 73 books. In 405 AD, Pope Innocent I wrote a letter to the Bishop of Toulouse reaffirming this canon of 73 books. In 419 AD, the Council of Carthage reaffirmed this list, which Pope Boniface agreed to. The Council of Trent, in 1546, in response to the Reformation removing 7 books from the canon (canon is a Greek word meaning “standard”), reaffirmed the original St. Athanasius list of 73 books. When Jesus addressed the Diaspora Jews (who spoke Greek) he quoted from the Septuagint version of the scriptures. The Septuagint (LXX) was a Greek translation by 70 translators of the Hebrew Word. The Septuagint includes the disputed 7 books that Protestants do not recognize as scriptural.]
This compilation of books contains an astonishing variety of literary styles. It provides many stories about the lives of good and bad people, about battles and journeys, about the life of Jesus, and about early church activity. It comes to us in narratives and dialogues, in proverbs and parables, in songs and allegories, in history and prophecy.
The accounts in the Bible were not generally written down as they occurred. Rather they were told over and over again and handed down through the years, before eventually being written down. Yet the same themes may be found throughout the book. Along with the diversity there is also remarkable unity throughout. Because the bible is revered as the Word of God by Christians it is often referred to as Sacred Scripture [holy writings]. Here is what the Bible says about scripture, its authority and its purpose:
"All Scripture is divinely inspired and has its use for teaching the truth and refuting error, for reformation of manners and discipline in right living, so that the man who belongs to God may be efficient and equipped for good work of every kind" (2 Tim. 3:16-17, Greek text)
St Jerome, a 5th century monk and biblical scholar most associated with the Latin Vulgate translation of the bible clearly saw the scriptures as the word of God when he said: “Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God, and if the man who does not know Scripture does not know the power and wisdom of God, then ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ.”
34 How well do you understand the contents of this page? (circle as appropriate): Martin Luther, a reformer of the 16th century, led the protest against Catholicism [hence the term ‘Protestant’] and one of his guiding principles was ‘Sola Scriptura’ or ‘scripture alone’. He believed that the bible was the unique source of divine authority and instruction. All the Protestant Reformers emphasised the importance and authority of Scripture against the traditional authority of the Roman Church, but not all interpreted them in the same way.
More recently the Catholic Church stated its understanding of the bible as the Word of God in its Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation – ‘Dei Verbum’, issued at the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s, as follows:
“Those divinely revealed realities which are contained and presented in Sacred Scripture have been committed to writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
For holy mother Church, relying on the belief of the Apostles (see John 20:31; 2 Tim. 3:16; 2 Peter 1:19-20, 3:15-16), holds that the books of both the Old and New Testaments in their entirety, with all their parts, are sacred and canonical because written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, they have God as their author and have been handed on as such to the Church herself.
In composing the sacred books, God chose men and while employed by Him they made use of their powers and abilities, so that with Him acting in them and through them, they, as true authors, consigned to writing everything and only those things which He wanted.
Therefore, since everything asserted by the inspired authors or sacred writers must be held to be asserted by the Holy Spirit, it follows that the books of Scripture must be acknowledged as teaching solidly, faithfully and without error that truth which God wanted put into sacred writings for the sake of salvation.”
Why might some people / Christians not look to the bible as a source of wisdom and authority in daily life?
There are many reasons why some people, or even some Christians, might not see the bible as a source of wisdom and authority in daily life.
Secularisation: We live in a society that has become increasingly secularised. People today practice their religion less. Fewer people attend church and fewer again read or even possess a bible or look to it for advice. People are more influenced now by the values of TV and social media than they are by the bible.
Scepticism: Since the age of the enlightenment and the influence of scholars such as David Hume people have begun to question and disbelieve more the beliefs of religion and particularly those aspects which appear strongly supernatural e.g., miracles etc. The bible has many accounts of supernatural events.
Culture wars: Many people disagree with many of the ideas in the bible and its apparent teachings. They don’t seem to fit with a modern liberal politically correct way of thinking. They fundamentally may disagree with many of the moral statements and beliefs found in the bible e.g., same-sex marriage versus traditional marriage.
Apostasy: This is where someone consciously rejects religious beliefs. For example many see the God of the Old Testament as an angry and vengeful God and therefore reject the bible which portrays this image and any value attached to it. See quotation from Richard Dawkins* below.
35 How well do you understand the contents of this page? (circle as appropriate): Philosophical grounds: Many people don’t understand, for example, how an all-powerful and loving God could permit evil to occur in the world. Ironically this theme is also explored within the bible in the Book of Job. We shall look at this when we look at the Unit on Philosophy of Religion.
Archaic: Some people recognise that the bible was written a long time ago and therefore they question its validity and relevance for today. We encounter many moral problems now in the 21st century which were unheard of in biblical times therefore it seems unable to offer any advice for modern living.
Unreliable: Many people say that the bible is full of apparent contradictions e.g., the infancy narratives and the resurrection narratives. Also they speak of strange unbelievable things like ‘talking snakes’. This calls inot question its validity and reliability for many as a source of authority for daily life. If there are so many so called errors in the bible, then how can it be trusted by a modern reader?
*“The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully.” Richard Dawkins, The God Delusion, 2006, p.131
a. The ways in which the Bible is considered authoritative:
In this section we shall consider a variety of biblical texts. The excerpts below are taken from the Revised Standard Version (RSV) translation of the Bible and many ideas in the commentaries are taken from The Collegeville Bible Commentary. We shall look at these texts and what they suggest about different ways the bible is seen as authoritative in daily life:
i. as a source of moral advice (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14; Luke 6:36-37); ii. as a guide to living (Psalm 119:9-16; Psalm 119:105-112); iii. as teaching on the meaning and purpose of life (Genesis 1:26-28; Ecclesiastes 9:5-9); iv. as a source of comfort and encouragement (Psalm 46:1-3; Matthew 6:25).
i. The Bible as a source of moral advice (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14; Luke 6:36-37) Very often when faced with moral problems and dilemmas people like to seek out advice on what to do. Typically, they will turn to a friend whom they consider wise. Christians consider Jesus as their friend and so will turn to the bible as they believe Jesus is the Word of God made flesh. Since they believe it is inspired by the Holy Spirit it can only offer sound advice. Here we consider two such texts which offer moral advice, that is advice on how to live your life in a moral way consistent with what God intends.
Ecclesiastes 12:13-14:
13 The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God, and keep his commandments; for this is the whole duty of man. 14 For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.
36 How well do you understand the contents of this page? (circle as appropriate): Commentary: The Book of Ecclesiastes from the Old Testament is one of the great books of the Bible which belongs to the genre of Wisdom literature. It is not an easy book to deal with. But neither is life, and that is what Ecclesiastes ventured to examine. The excerpt above is taken from the concluding verses in the book of Ecclesiastes which sum up the basic approach of the wisdom writers in the bible. He is not laying down a law; he is expressing the conviction that the only wise way to live is to be in awe of the incomprehensible God who lives behind the appearances of things and to try to be holy as God is holy. One day God will reveal what this is all about.
Explain in your own words what you think this text from Ecclesiastes is saying:
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Explain how this might be seen as an example of the bible offering a source of moral advice?
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Explain why Christians might accept this biblical text as a source of moral advice?
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Explain why Christians or others might not accept this biblical text as a source of moral advice?
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Luke 6:36-37:
36 Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful. 37 “Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven;
37 How well do you understand the contents of this page? (circle as appropriate): Commentary: One of the recurring themes of Luke’s Gospel is compassion and forgiveness. In these short verses we have the words or teaching of Jesus from his sermon on the plain. This includes some material that Matthew has included in the Sermon on the Mount (Matt 5-7). But instead of staying on the mountain to deliver his discourse, Jesus comes down from the mountain like Moses to deliver the law to the people. In these brief verses included above we see that to be like the Father is to be compassionate, which means, as a the subsequent sentences unfold, not to judge or condemn, but to forgive offences and to give without counting the cost, as God himself has done.
Explain in your own words what you think this biblical text from Luke is saying:
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Explain why Christians might accept this biblical text as a source of moral advice?
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Explain why Christians or others might not accept this biblical text as a source of moral advice?
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ii. As a guide to living (Psalm 119:9-16; Psalm 119:105-112); Christians will often want to live their life in a biblical way, that is in a way consistent with what the bible counsels. They may not be looking for specific rules or commandments but rather looking for an ethos, vision or purposeful direction, basically, a guide to living. Here we consider two such texts which propose such a vision.
38 How well do you understand the contents of this page? (circle as appropriate):
Psalm 119:9-16
9 How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to thy word. 10 With my whole heart I seek thee; let me not wander from thy commandments! 11 I have laid up thy word in my heart, that I might not sin against thee. 12 Blessed be thou, O Lord; teach me thy statutes! 13 With my lips I declare all the ordinances of thy mouth. 14 In the way of thy testimonies I delight as much as in all riches. 15 I will meditate on thy precepts, and fix my eyes on thy ways. 16 I will delight in thy statutes; I will not forget thy word.
Commentary: The Book of Psalms is a hymn collection which was used in Jewish worship at the temple in Jerusalem. They still form the basis of daily prayer in the Anglican and Catholic traditions of Christianity today. They contain a wide range of prayers including the genres of lament, thanksgiving and hymn. They cover a range of human experiences and emotions and are offered to God in prayer. Psalm 119 is the longest psalm in the Psalter consisting of 176 verses. It is an anthology of poems praising the law. There are eight words for law in the psalm: way, law, decrees, precepts, statutes, commands, ordinances, words. The poem expresses faith in the word of God delivered to the people in various situations, such as the inexperience of youth (vv.9-16 above). The singer stands for us all – people conscious of life’s limits and wise enough to ask for the illuminating and strengthening hand of the Lord.
Explain in your own words what you think this biblical text is saying:
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Psalm 119:105-112 105 Thy word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. 106 I have sworn an oath and confirmed it, to observe thy righteous ordinances. 107 I am sorely afflicted; give me life, O Lord, according to thy word! 108 Accept my offerings of praise, O Lord, and teach me thy ordinances. 109 I hold my life in my hand continually, but I do not forget thy law. 110 The wicked have laid a snare for me, but I do not stray from thy precepts. 111 Thy testimonies are my heritage for ever; yea, they are the joy of my heart. 112 I incline my heart to perform thy statutes for ever, to the end.
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iii. As teaching on the meaning and purpose of life (Genesis 1:26-28; Ecclesiastes 9:5-9); Christians may also consult the bible when confronted by the bigger questions in life about purpose and meaning. Questions such as ‘where do we come from?’, ‘where are we going?’, ‘why am I here?’ and ‘what is the meaning of life?’ Very often we don’t feel qualified or experienced enough to answer such profound questions so again the Christian will often turn to what they consider a higher authority, that is God’s infallible word in the bible. Here we consider two texts which supply such a meaning for our existence.
Genesis 1:26-28
26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.” 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. 28 And God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.”
41 How well do you understand the contents of this page? (circle as appropriate): Commentary: The Book of Genesis is the story of the prehistory of Israel and was produced in the pre-scientific world of the Near East. It is a book of beginnings and opens with the verse “In the beginning ..” Chapter 1 is a description of the creation of the heavens and the earth which builds up to the creation of humanity. In Gen 1:26 the Hebrew word ‘adam signifies humanity and so the text can be translated, ‘God created humanity in his image; male and female he created them.’ Humanity consists of the male and the female. Together man and woman constitute humanity. The term ‘image’ in the ancient world meant a statue of the king that was sent to the distant corners of the kingdom where the king could not be present. This ‘image’ was to be the representative of the king in that area. If we apply this to Genesis, to be created in the image of God is to be God’s representative on earth. This is underscored in the very next sentence of verse 26, in which humanity is given dominion over the earth. In fact the word ‘dominion’ appears twice in this short extract. As God is ruler of the heavenly realm, so humanity, as God’s representative, is ruler of the earthly realm. This is a very exalted view of humanity. Family life and fruitfulness are also clearly part of the commandment/blessing of God on humanity.
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Ecclesiastes 9:5-9
5 For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing, and they have no more reward; but the memory of them is lost. 6 Their love and their hate and their envy have already perished, and they have no more for ever any share in all that is done under the sun.7 Go, eat your bread with enjoyment, and drink your wine with a merry heart; for God has already approved what you do.8 Let your garments be always white; let not oil be lacking on your head.9 Enjoy life with the wife whom you love, all the days of your vain life which he has given you under the sun, because that is your portion in life and in your toil at which you toil under the sun.
Commentary: The Book of Ecclesiastes, as we have seen, belongs to the Wisdom literature genre (see earlier commentary). In this extract we see Ecclesiastes continual themes restated. Not only can one find satisfaction in good food and drink; fine clothes and perfumes help. Enjoy life with the wife whom you love. Give all you got in everything you do. But the opening phrase strikes a sombre note: death is on the way. Such was the traditional attitude. Israel had been chosen to be God’s worshiper on earth. Very little was said about the afterlife.
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iv. As a source of comfort and encouragement (Psalm 46:1-3; Matthew 6:25) Human nature being what it is means that we are often subject to a wide array of emotional states over time in response to big events in life, to all sorts of challenges and difficulties. Very often we can feel down and disheartened and sometimes this can turn to depression or despair. It is often in such low moments that people again turn to the bible for comfort and consolation. There are so many psalms which express these common human experiences so well, experiences of abandonment or betrayal, of utter aloneness. There are other events which can cause us to worry inordinately and this can also impact on our mental wellbeing. Here we consider two texts which offer words of comfort and encouragement.
Psalm 46:1-3
46 God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble.
2 Therefore we will not fear though the earth should change,
though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea;
3 though its waters roar and foam,
though the mountains tremble with its tumult.
Commentary: The Book of Psalms, as we have seen, contains a wide range of prayers including the genres of lament, thanksgiving and hymn. The Psalms cover a range of human experiences and emotions and are offered to God in prayer. In this Psalm God is hymned for making the holy city a sure refuge to worshipers, who are terrified by the prospect of a collapsing world. God created the world by subduing the disorderly primal forces that made human life impossible, and established Zion as the glorious divine dwelling. Because God is present at the ordered world’s centre, the psalmist is confident that there will be no unleashing of those once unruly forces, especially in the Lord’s own space.
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Matthew 6:25
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you shall eat or what you shall drink, nor about your body, what you shall put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?
Commentary: This excerpt is taken from the final section of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew’s gospel. It gives advice regarding the Christian pursuit of holiness. These sayings of Jesus on care and anxiety seek to free the followers of Jesus from excessive concern about food and clothing by means of several considerations. They are urged to reflect on God’s care as shown in nature (the birds and the wild flowers) and to realise that human beings are even more important in God’s sight. They are asked to admit that worrying does not really solve anything and to recognise that if their heart is set on serving God alone, these matters will take care of themselves. The God whom they address in prayer as Father knows all that they need.
45 How well do you understand the contents of this page? (circle as appropriate): Explain in your own words what you think this biblical text is saying:
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AO2: Issues for analysis and evaluation will be drawn from any aspect of the content above, such as:
o The relative value of the Bible as teaching on the meaning and purpose of life. o The extent to which the Psalms studied offer a guide to living for Christians.
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☧ KEY TERMS VOCABULARY LIST WITH EXPLANATIONS ☧
Eschatology The branch of theology or biblical exegesis concerned with the end of the world and the final judgement.
Historicity The idea that something can be said to be authentic or true from a historical point of view. It is one of the key issues relating to the birth narratives of Jesus as found in the gospels of Matthew and Luke.
Incarnation This term literally means 'in flesh'. The doctrine that the Son of God took on human flesh in Jesus of Nazareth.
Inerrancy The belief that the Bible, because it is inspired by God or said to be the Word of God, is free from error in matters of faith and therefore can be relied upon and trusted as a source of authority and wisdom.
Kenosis Literally 'to empty'. The idea that the Son of God renounced or emptied himself of his divine status when he took on human nature. See Philippians 2:6-7 Kenotic This model of incarnation is a more modern belief that the Son of God suppressed or suspended his divinity in Model of taking on human form. This model emphasises Jesus' humanity. It became popular among Lutheran scholars in the Incarnation last 300 years and is especially linked with Gottfried Thomasius. Kerygma The original and essential good news of Jesus, as preached by the early Christians to elicit faith rather than to educate or instruct. There are many examples of this in Acts of the Apostles.
Myth According to Rudolf Bultmann this type of language is found in some books of the bible and it tries to describe in objective terms that which is non-objective. N. T. Wright A 20th century biblical scholar who argued that the resurrection of Jesus cannot have been a myth invented by the early Christians because it was so unexpected. Based on the rapid and radical mutations in Jewish theology among the first Christians he believed that "Jesus really did rise from the dead on Easter morning, leaving an empty tomb behind him." Parousia A Greek word which in Christian thought signifies the prophesied return of Christ to earth at the Last Judgment.
Psyche A Greek word which literally means 'the human soul, spirit or mind'. Redaction This is a term used to describe the activities of an editor who is using earlier source materials and incorporating Criticism them into a manuscript. It highlights the theological emphases of the author and indicates the interests of his intended audience. Resurrection This term literally means 'to rise again'. It is a central belief of Christianity and is the subject of the 15th Chapter of St Paul's first letter to the Corinthians. Rudolf A 20th century biblical scholar who argued that belief in an objective resurrection of Jesus, although legitimate and Bultmann intelligible in the first century, cannot be taken seriously today. He described the resurrection as "a mythical event, pure and simple." Septuagint The principal Greek version of the Old Testament, including the Apocrypha, believed to have been translated in the third century BC by 70 or 72 scholars. It has seven more books than the Hebrew version.
Sola This phrase is from Latin and means that only the bible is authoritative for the faith and practice of the Christian and Scriptura was one of the rallying cries of Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation.
Soma A Greek word which literally means 'body'. It is found 70 times in the New Testament denoting a physical body or the mystical Body of Christ. Substantial This model of incarnation is based on the traditional belief that the Son of God in taking on human form retained his Presence full divinity. This model emphasises the divinity of Jesus. This was affirmed by many Patristic writers in the early Model of Church such as St John of Damascus. Incarnation Theotokos This term literally means 'God bearer'. It is a title given to Mary which affirms the divinity of Jesus. It was defined at the Council of Ephesus in 431 AD. Vulgate The Latin version of the Bible, prepared chiefly by Saint Jerome at the end of the 4th century A.D., and used as the authorized version of the Roman Catholic Church.
47 How well do you understand the contents of this page? (circle as appropriate): ADDITIONAL READING RECORD SHEET [Book, Journal or Online Article]
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VIDEO CLIPS TO SUPPORT THIS THEME: a] Birth narratives: Issues and differences in Matthew and Luke [22’] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNEVfP4RkHw
[b] The Infancy Narrative of Matthew [6’] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Tjw0tY3sPU
[c] The Infancy Narrative of Luke [6’] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nAqNub2XmDQ
[d] The Nativity - THE BIBLE [5’] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S42szZFGmZw
[e] The Nativity Story HD - A 15min Edited Version for Christmas [17’] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysnTfbvU92I
[f] Historical Resurrection of Christ? NT Wright responds (HD) [6’] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0Dc01HVlaM
[g]Tom Wright Resurrection [10’] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fki5wq48fpc
[h] BULTMANN by David Fergusson.mpg [10’] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djLiNbO9vm4
[i] Contradictions in the Bible accounts of Jesus rising from the dead? [11’] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hA6g46R-adg
[j] The Resurrection of Jesus (Introduction) [6’] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ErnJF_nwBk&list=PL1mr9ZTZb3TUYymBPce08oyuhnHLLkR_B
[k] The Resurrection of Jesus (Origins of the Belief) [21’] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdIM8QoD8UE
[l] The Resurrection of Jesus (Spiritual Resurrection?) [16’] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rffmrioFnBY&index=6&list=PL1mr9ZTZb3TUYymBPce08oyuhnHLLkR_B
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